The present invention relates to a self-locking holder for a lamp of the type having external pin contacts, and more particularly to such a lamp holder for bipin fluorescent lamps.
A simple, easy to use and reliable holder for bipin lamps, such as fluorescent lamps, has long been a sought-after goal. Most of the prior holders have been complicated, and at times expensive, and have not possessed reliable self-locking features. Lack of reliable self-locking is especially troublesome on aircraft and in other transportation media, since minimizing the labor costs of lamping is important and since shock and vibration attendant to operation may cause the holder to release the lamp, leading to its breakage. Moreover, vibration and shock may lead to intermittent or flickering lamp operation if self-locking is not sufficiently positive.
Other problems with prior art lamp holders are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,295, which discloses a lamp holder of the type generally involved herein.
A major objective of the present invention is to improve on prior art lamp holders, including that of the '295 Patent, by providing an inexpensive, simple bipin lamp holder which is reliably self-locking, easy to relamp, and which manifests all of the positive attributes generally desired in such a lamp holder.